Purchasing components in Australia

[lethargist]

Hey,
I live in australia and am fairly new to this. I have a lot of trouble finding the components i need to make the effects.. In particular, things like IC's, transistors and diodes are causing me the most trouble.. Does anyone know of anywhere within Australia where i can buy these sorts of specialty parts.. I usually shop at Dick Smith Electronics, but the range is limited. And for the amount it would cost me in shipping it is not possible to buy stuff from overseas.. Any help would be much appreciated..

Thank You

[vdm]

hey mate,

around here some things are not possible to get at your local shop, but often you'll find the they're listed under a different name.

for example
1n914 diode = 1n4148
2n5088 transistors can usually be replaced by pn100 (orientation is reversed for the dick smith ones), or bc549c.
and things like 4558 opamps can be replaced with any dual opamp like tl072 or lm358.

if you can't find something, jaycar is another good source that you can probably find locally - www.jaycar.com.au has a search function if you need to see if they stock a particular component. they also have stomp switches but of the 3 ive bought, one fried very easily and another just stopped working altogether (after stomping on it a few times when it refused to work), and the other one is a few weeks old and hasn't been used much at all.

next time im going to get a few 3pdt's from aron, which are almost as cheap in the long run (especially if you have to replace each one 3 times...)

anywho, hope this helps,

trent

[niftydog]

consider a subscription to Silicon Chip. This is a great source of just such information.

Check out Jaycar, there's probably one nearby. They have most of the common stuff, but can rarely order stuff they don't already stock.

Here's a list of some of the suppliers I've found in Australia. You should consider yourself lucky, as it has taken me a looooooooonnnnnnng time to find some of these places. You'll find that some are more useful for certain things than others. You'll find some places via google that are "surplus stockists" that only do large quantitys.

http://www.altronics.com.au These guys are good.
http://www.delsound.com.au never used 'em, found only last week!
http://www.farnell.com/australia Fantastic range, prices that Donald Trump wouldn't pay.
http://www.multicorp.com.au ?
http://www.radioparts.com.au Great guys.
http://www.rockby.com.au Seem pretty good, but never used them.
http://www.rs-components.com.au About as expensive as Farnell.
http://www.volt.com.au I believe a store that is somehow linked to the magazine Silicon Chip.
http://www1.electusdistribution.com.au Jaycars distribution centre, recently opened to the public.

There are a number of others, use google to search for part numbers, limiting the search to Australia only.

[mikeb]

Checkout:
www.altronics.com.au
www.rockby.com.au
www.jaycar.com.au
www.dse.com.au
www.oatleyelectronics.com
www.farnell.com (select the Australian site)
www.rsaustralia.com

... ranked in approximate usefulness / cheapness for DIYers.

However, you really should consider buying from Small Bear, as he has *all* the stuff you need, and if you get organised and don't mind waiting a week or so, then you really don't pay anything extra (even taking into account shipping - using petrol to get to your local store takes $$$) and he has all the cool stuff in one place.

If you let us know what parts in particular you are after we can make more specific suggestions. BTW, I've found the PN100 generic subs to be unbearably noisy in most circuits I used them in, but perhaps I was just unlucky!

HTH

Mike

[RobB]

The most common item which has to be imported is the 3PDT foot switch but altronics may have them in the near future. http://www.altronics.com.au/cat.asp?cat=1&grp=291&id=S1153
Price seems right but I don't know what the quality will be like.  

Rockby seem to have a good range of fancy cap's like silver mica and polystyrene if you're into that sort of thing.  
http://www.rockby.com.au/searchres.cfm?select=7  

As MikeB said, if you want to get all the components for your project from the one place then Small Bear is a good option.

[lethargist]

is there anywhere that i can go that lists alternatives.. or is there anyway for me to work out what would work as an alternative...

for example, if i want an 1n4001 silicon diode, how do i find what would work as an alternative?
could i use something like a 1n4004?

[niftydog]

What often helps is downloading the datasheet for that part. What you'll find in this case is that every diode from 1N4001 to 1N4007 are practically the same. However, in low voltage applications, there's very little difference.

Search google for "1N4001.pdf" or "1N4001 datasheet" and you'll find it easy. The "peak repeditive reverse voltage" is the major characteristic that is different. A 1N4001 is 50V, a 1N4004 is 400V. Now, considering we're usually talking about 9V batterys, there's nothing to worry about!

Sometimes you can find substitutions on the net, but other times it proves quite difficult. I use commercial comparison tables, which come in book form and contain data on thousands of semiconductors as well as recommended substitutes.

Books such as these are available from Jaycar and other electronics stores. You can also buy them via the net. The drawback is, they're often expensive.

If you know of any electronic techs, or second hand stores or book jumble sales etc etc you might get lucky and find an old one that someone will part with for a modest sum. Usually you'll find most of the parts we use are listed, even if it's ten years old.

Now, having said that, here's a link or two that might help.

Transistor cross reference
datasheet locator
another datasheet locator, this site is often down

If all else fails, search google with something like "1N4001 substitute" and you might get lucky!

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

I agree with all the above, but here is another couple:

http://www.wiltronics.com.au/
are in Ballarat, but good at mail order. Plenty of our sort of stuff.

http://www.wescomponents.com/
are a Sydney store specialising in spare parts for servicing, harder to deal with, but often the only place.

Having said that, I find it is often cheaper (if you are buying say $20 or more of parts) to go mail with SmallBear in USA.
Be careful with some US suppliers in case they ship via FEDEX or some other expensive way, whihc getrs you hit for customs clearance. Steve at SmallBear sends via normal airmail parcel & it goes straight thru.

[niftydog]

oops, forgot about WES. They're pretty good for semis.

Best to request the print catalogue, their website has been under construction for what seems like an eternity!

[brett]

In particular, things like IC's, transistors and diodes are causing me the most trouble..

Search on the forum (button above) about substitutions.  It is a common topic.  We've probably covered 99% of the common subs already, but feel free to ask about new ones.  

Except for the pain of finding DSE out of stock, they are ok and cover the basics plus some.  Aron who runds this forum sells xlnt stomp switches and Small Bear in NYC only charges US$4 for mail-oreders of small parcels (his press-n-peel, jfets and specialist ICs are cheap compared with here in Oz)

have fun

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

Dick Smith in Richmond (Melbourne Australia) is closing & a friend just got a stereo preamp kit half price. I don't know wht else is there..
tues 4 Aug 2004.

[george]

http://www.wescomponents.com/
are a Sydney store specialising in spare parts for servicing, harder to deal with, but often the only place.

I used to work just down the road from them in Ashfield.  Good (but probably expensive if you're not in the trade) ... Only place in Australia I could get 250V 0.8A slo-blo fuses .... also had 2n5088 trannies which noone else in Sydney has

Having said that, I find it is often cheaper (if you are buying say $20 or more of parts) to go mail with SmallBear in USA.
Be careful with some US suppliers in case they ship via FEDEX or some other expensive way, whihc getrs you hit for customs clearance. Steve at SmallBear sends via normal airmail parcel & it goes straight thru.

yes it was cheaper to get 20 2n5088s from SB in NYC than it was to walk up the road and get them from Wagners! LOL!

BTW I'm printing out this thread! Thanks Paul and Nifty, robb, mikeb ...